Many thanks to Sam Ellis for sponsoring this chapter on my site!

Chapter 36 - Shocking revelations

Lokiseth’s POV:

He has resigned himself to be here for a long time, but I don’t know if he’ll be able to keep up with the training regime. Thanks to the time dilation inside this pseudo-realm, we have five years to drill into him all the ancestral teachings he should have learned since his birth… It was very dangerous for him to use my power and he’ll suffer the consequences of doing so, but it was a fortunate event it happened, otherwise the minions of the hexad would have probably killed him before he knew what had hit him! The only downside to this situation is his lack of motivation… 

************************************************************

Making two wooden buckets appear out of thin air, Lokiseth put them in front of Merlin and looked at him with an evil smile. *I’ve got a bad feeling about this…* thought Merlin, and his suspicions were confirmed by Lokiseth’s next words.

Lokiseth: “Well, Merlin, this will be the beginning of your training. Take these buckets and go to the lake, fill them with water and bring them back here.”

Merlin: “Ok.”

Lokiseth: “Oh, one more detail, you have to run.”

Merlin: “Say what!?”

Lokiseth: “As I said, run from here to the lake, take the water, and run back here with it. It’s a very simple exercise, you shouldn’t have any problems understanding what you have to do, should you?”

Merlin: “Running there is one thing, but running back…”

Lokiseth: “Well, you can do as I say or let your dear ones die. I don’t mind either way, it’s your choice to make, kid!”

Merlin: “You, bastard! What do you mean by my dear ones dying?”

Lokiseth: “If you really want to know, I can explain it to you… after you return with the water.”

Merlin cursed Lokiseth and run as fast as he could towards the lake. *That was a cruel thing to do, but it was necessary. I didn’t plan on explaining it to him so soon, but if his desire to protect the ones he loves drives him to focus and train as he should, then it will be ok to tell him ahead of schedule.*  Lokiseth was feeling a little guilty for playing with Merlin’s emotions, but as it was for the greater good, he dismissed the feelings of guilt and focused on preparing the things necessary for the next step in Merlin’s training. 

He waved his hands, and everything in a pentagon, each side being 20ft long, turned into dust. As soon as he waved his hands again, the area within the pentagon fell down and formed a pool. Lokiseth intended to make Merlin run down to the lake and up until he filled the pool with the water he had brought in the buckets. When Merlin came back with the water and Lokiseth showed the pool to him while explaining the second part of the exercise, Merlin was so shocked he almost fainted on the spot! Running to the lake and back with the water just once had left him dead tired, and now he had to do it who knows how many times until he filled the pool?! 

Merlin: “Let’s forget about the exercise for a second… What did you mean when you said if I didn’t do this training my dear ones would die?”

Lokiseth: “Oh, that? Do you remember what Grani told you about the origin of this world, and the hexad of gods who were sealed?”

Merlin: “Yes, but how is that related to any of this?”

Lokiseth: “The seal is weakening, all gods can feel it, and those among humans who serve the hexad will stop at nothing to destroy anything and anyone who could get in the way of the return of those six damned gods! That, of course, includes your girls and your family.”

Merlin: “I don’t really understand what you are saying… Why would my family or the girls pose a threat to the minions of the hexad? Why should they be in danger? I am the only one who poses a threat to them because of you!”

Lokiseth: “It’s far more complicated than that. The gods whose power was used to create the seal should have attached themselves to a person of your parents’ generation. That would have given them plenty of time to adapt to the body of the host and teach the host the way to correctly wield our divine power. However, the fate of the world changed, not only were we attached to a host a generation later, the fate of those new hosts is to die before reaching adulthood.”

Merlin: “You mean the gods of the hexad have the same ability as me, they are able to change fate?”

Lokiseth: “No, they were somehow able to do it, but that is not an inherent ability of theirs. You did well, though, you saved two vessels, so even with the changes they made, your ability countered their actions.”

Merlin: “Sorry, but I don’t understand what you just said.”

Lokiseth: “Lupa and Bastet. Those two are the vessels of the two goddesses of beastmen, Fera and Bastheth! They were fated to die under the carriage debris you saved them from.”

Merlin: “That has to be joke! They have never told me anything about it!”

Lokiseth: “They probably don’t even know they are, the goddesses will speak to them on their fifteenth birthday, and guide them while they create a pseudo-realm like yours to hold their power. Only an adult body would be able to resist its creation. In that regard, you must make sure that they conserve their chastity till then, were they to lose their chastity before their fifteenth birthday, a similar situation like yours could occur. They would die though, the only reason I could make the pseudo-realm in your young body was your insanely big mana pool, and I had to use it up for it to work… their mana pools are above average, but far from yours, so they would explode… please, keep it in mind!”

Merlin: “I didn’t intend to take their chastity, even less so before their fifteenth birthday, but thanks for the warning, anyway! It’s good to know it, that way I can prevent any irreparable mistake from happening.”

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Lokiseth: “Ok, now that you know, go back to training!”

Merlin: “Yes, master!”

*Master?*  Lokiseth was delighted hearing Merlin call him that way *Looks like hearing the truth about the girls and the dangers that truth implies, has made him willing to do any training… Poor girls, not only are they destined to be with him due to being the vessels of Fera and Bastheth, they are madly in love with him (those two always had a thing for me, they probably are amplifying several fold the feelings of the girls for Merlin)… but he insists in maintaining a distance from them, he still hasn’t noticed that, little by little, he too is falling in love with them…*

*****************************************************

Merlin’s POV:

Well, that sure is a lot of information to take in, I never imagined that I would become the vessel for an old god, nor that Lupa and Bastet were vessels too… There had always been something that didn’t feel right when I learnt about the circumstances in which the caravan had been attacked, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. 

If the minions of the hexad were able to change the fate of the girls to some extent with the help of some artifact, then it is highly likely that they knew the girls would be on that caravan. Then it would just be a question of manipulating some corrupt officials or nobles and incite them to attack the caravan under the premise “no witnesses”. The vessels of the goddesses would die, and no one would know those two were the actual targets of the attack! 

*Crap! I almost fell!*  I shouldn’t get myself distracted by those things… Right now the only thing that matters is to get as strong as possible, in the smallest amount of time possible. That’s the only possible way to protect the girls and my family. Anyhow, now that I’m trapped in this place, and unable to go out for a whole year, I only have a choice to make: To stop whining and make the most out of the training and resources in this realm.

******************************************************************

While inside Lokiseth’s pseudo-realm had passed a little over 2 months, 3 weeks had already passed in the outside world since Merlin had fallen into a coma. Rose and Arnold had gotten married the week before, and they had been gifted a newly build house in Ragnarök. Lupa, Bastet, and Adelle had passed almost every second available by Merlin’s side, with the exception of their martial arts and magic trainings, which they had finally started to do seriously, once again. They didn’t attend the wedding, at that time they were crying their eyes out by Merlin’s side, but Arnold and Rose understood their position and didn’t insist, after all, if they had to change places with Merlin and the girls, they would act in the exact same way.

Emelyn and the other members of the family had started to worry about their health, but as they could do nothing about Merlin’s current state, which was the root of the problem, they were at a loss of what to do for the girls. Emelyn was writing something on a parchment when Leyla entered the room carrying Lilith in her arms.

Leyla: “What are you doing, Emelyn?”

Emelyn: “Oh, I’m writing a letter to my friend Glenna, I want to see if she’s available to teach the etiquette of the nobility to the girls.”

Leyla: “Do you really think that is a good idea?”

Emelyn: “It is. I had been thinking about it for a while, ever since I discovered the three of them making out with Merlin. They are too young to be doing that, fortunately, Merlin is a boy very mature for his age and tried to avoid those kind of situations, but the girls even trying is a problem in itself. Besides, right now they need something to distract them from thinking in Merlin’s current predicament.”

Leyla: “That’s not what I meant, I know your reasons. What I meant to ask is if you think that it is a good idea to ask her to teach the girls… I still remember the time when she made an eunuch out of an adventurer who groped her at the hall of the Adventurers Guild!”

Emelyn: “Hahaha, I remember that too. She married Richard Glenanne and quit adventuring after receiving an ancient curse which impedes her from running. She then started teaching etiquette to the children of the nobility, and she hasn’t stopped ever since. She has even earned a nickname: ‘the demoness teacher’. ”

Leyla: “Wait, are you really saying that the ‘demoness teacher’ of the capital, Glenna Glenanne, is our friend Glenna?!”

Emelyn: “Yes, it’s her. She became much more docile after getting married and having a couple of kids… If Merlin didn’t already have Adelle, Lupa, and Bastet, I would probably have tried to have him engaged with Glenna’s daughter.”

Leyla: “Don’t let Merlin hear you say that, sis. He already got forced by the King to be Adelle’s fiancé, and tricked by Lupa and Bastet into becoming their mate, if he finds out that you are trying to find him another fiancée, he will probably stop talking to you!”

Emelyn: “I’m well aware that Merlin is currently not interested in romance and treats the 3 girls like sisters, not like lovers, except when they initiate that kind of behavior, and they are too young for that. Furthermore, I’m not trying to find him a fourth fiancée, I’m just saying that if he hadn’t any, I would have tried to make Glenna’s daughter his fiancée. That’s all.”

Leyla: “It better be, he has enough problems with 3 girls, if you tried to add another one to the mix, Merlin would probably end up escaping from home and the girls!”

Emelyn: “Ups, you are probably right! Anyway, it was just a hypothetical talk, nothing else! I just hope Glenna is available and able to come here, I haven’t seen her in a while!”

Leyla: “It looks more like you want to catch up with Glenna than asking for an etiquette teacher…”

________________________________________________________________________________

You can always read a chapter ahead, or support the story, at http://merlinpendragon.blogspot.com/ !